Take My Hand
by Numb3rsfan
Summary: A gunman enters the FBI offices and opens fire, and only one person is hit.
1. Don't Play Innocent

**Take My Hand**

By

**Numb3rsfan**

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Angst, H/C

Author's Notes: Ok, I know my last one was a little weird, so this one will hopefully be a little more IC. Also, some of the story may sound like season 2's "Rampage" shootout, but hey, after just watching that episode I feel I should write something based on it…slightly.

_Take My Hand_ is a song by Toto, and it is from the Dune soundtrack.

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs. This fic is just for everyone out there who loves Numb3rs.

Summary: A gunman enters the FBI offices and opens fire, and only one person is hit.

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Chapter One: Don't Play Innocent

Charlie sighed before he pushed open the door to the bullpen and entered the empty room.

Well, it was empty of people anyway…certainly not his math stuff!

He had been at CalSci, in the middle of a class no less, when he had gotten an urgent call from Don, asking him to come down to the office pronto, so naturally, his brother came first.

Dismissing his class forty minutes early, Charlie got in to his car and high-tailed it to Don's office, only to find the whole entire team gone.

After enquiring with the supervisor as to Don's whereabouts, Charlie was pointed in the direction of the bullpen, where a thick folder, crammed with papers, lay on the table next to his pad of paper, pens and blackboard markers.

'_Why does this not surprise me?'_ Charlie wondered as he took a seat.

Hands going to the file, Charlie opened it and took out the first page, scanning its contents.

'_Ok…this is very interesting, but what does it have to do with my math?'_ Charlie questioned himself as he scanned the paper again, hoping that it would yield some results.

When it didn't, Charlie put it back on top of the pile and shut the folder just as Don's team filed in to the office.

Looking out the clear, glass window of the bullpen, Charlie saw Don say something to David and Megan, before heading for the bullpen.

"Hey Charlie, sorry about that, but I had an urgent matter that I had to attend to." Don said as he entered the bullpen and went over to his brother.

"Sure you did." Charlie muttered softly, glancing at the file with raised eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Don asked, slightly annoyed as he pulled up a chair and sat down within reaching distance of his brother.

"Nothing, nothing!" Charlie began, before he asked, "Why'd you call me in?"

He neglected to say, _'In the middle of a class.'_ Because he doubted that Don would care.

"Remember that story about the sprinkler, four years ago?" Don asked.

Charlie looked away for a second before he looked back at his brother.

"Yeah. Not being able to predict where or who the guy was going to hit, but using his patterns I was able to distinguish his two points of origin…what about it?" Charlie asked.

"I need you to do something like that again. These people started out robbing banks, ATM's…anything they could find…" Don began.

"Reminds me of the…what were they?...Charm School Boys?" Charlie interrupted.

"Yeah." Don said.

Charlie nodded his head at Don's acknowledgment.

"Well, I'd love to help you Don, but I don't see how my math can be of use." Charlie said, rising up from his chair.

"Oh come on Charlie. On almost every case your math has been beneficial to us." Don said.

"Yeah… _almost_ every case Don. You listen to my math when you don't have a choice!" Charlie accused.

Don scrunched up his eyes, not understanding why Charlie was getting so upset.

Rising to stand in front of his brother, Don asked, "What's wrong Charlie? Where's this attitude coming from?"

"Don't play innocent Don! You know perfectly well why I'm angry!" Charlie said, raising his voice a little, but not so much where the people on the outside could hear him.

Shaking his head, Don replied, "No…honestly I don't have a clue."

Sighing, Charlie glanced down at the table, shaking his head before he glanced back up at Don.

"Remember last week?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah…why?" Don replied, still not following Charlie's train of thought.

"You called me in to work on that kidnapping case. Then when I get there I find out that there's another mathematician there…working the same case…at your request!" Charlie said.

"Wha…I brought him there to help! You told me numerous times that consulting was sometimes tiring." Don said.

"I'm not…all that angry with the mathematician being there…well I was and still am a bit…but what hurt me more was the remark that you made." Charlie said.

"Alright," Don said, folding his arms, "What did I say that offended you?"

"Colby asked you why you had brought in the other mathematician, and you said so there would be someone better than me coming up with all of the answers!" Charlie said.

Hearing that, Don did indeed remember saying that, but it had been meant as a joke, and if he had known that Charlie had been right behind him, he wouldn't even have said it!

"Charlie…I'm sorry. It was meant as a joke…I certainly didn't mean it! You are the best!" Don said, putting an arm on his brother's shoulder, but Charlie shrugged it off.

"Sure." He replied sullenly.

It was at that point that Don knew that he had some serious sucking up to do.

He knew his younger brother…he knew him well enough to know that Charlie didn't like to be at the center of a joke…especially an insulting joke such as the one that Don had made.

But Don didn't have time to dwell on it anymore, because not two seconds later the sound of breaking glass was heard, followed by screams.

Whipping his head around, Don saw the shooter, so he immediately grabbed on to Charlie, throwing him down to the ground as he himself bent low and grabbed his gun from his holster.

With a quick, "Stay down!" to Charlie, Don carefully made his way out of the bullpen, keeping his gun at the ready.

Hearing the gun going off again, Charlie was getting even more scared as Don's command echoed in his mind, but all he could think of was his knapsack that he had brought with him, which contained his laptop, among other things.

Quickly Charlie got up on to his knees and looked at the table, seeing that his knapsack was on the other side.

Biting his bottom lip, Charlie got up, using the table as support as he made his way to his knapsack.

Reaching over, Charlie's hands locked around the small handle at the top of it.

As he began to pull it towards him, he heard the gun go off and the sound of more breaking glass.

It didn't even occur to him that he had been hit until he felt the heat in his back, followed by the pain and the lightheadedness.

Charlie breathed once before he pitched forward, hitting the table before falling to the floor, right on top of his knapsack.

As the seconds ticked by, Charlie closed his eyes as his ears closed up, so that all he could hear was his own heartbeat.

He didn't hear his brother order the shooter to stop, nor did he hear Colby shoot the shooter when he tried to run.

All he could hear was himself as his eyes slid shut.

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"Stay down!"

Don glanced back at Charlie as he lay huddled on the ground, before he quickly left the bullpen and hid against the wall of a cubical.

Coming to an intersection, Don risked a glance and saw Megan with her gun drawn.

"Where is he?" Don shouted to her.

"I don't know!" Megan shouted back, before she grew quiet as the sound of feet got closer.

Settling back against the wall, Don held his gun tightly as he counted down a few seconds before he, remembering to stay crouched, moved a little ways down the corridor before he stopped at another intersection, right behind Colby.

"Don, he's right at the elevator." Colby said.

"Alright, just make sure that he doesn't get on!" Don said, clapping Colby's shoulder.

Just as Colby nodded his head, Don heard the gunman fire again, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

Using that as a distraction, Don moved past Colby until he got to the final piece of wall.

Beyond that there was no cover.

Looking around the corner, Don saw the shooter.

He was 5 foot 2 or 3, blond hair, a tattoo on his arm, and a serious look on his face.

"Stop!" Don ordered, "Drop your weapon and put your hands up!"

The gunman pointed his weapon and fired, but Don dived back under cover just in the nick of time.

However, as the gunman fired at Don, Colby stood up, took aim and fired, dropping the shooter as he turned to run.

When the shooting stopped, Don rose up and headed over to the guy as more units entered the room, quickly moving over to the guy, not only to watch him but to provide medical care.

Holstering his weapon, Don looked at Megan as she came up to him, also holstering her own weapon.

"Who's hurt?" Don asked.

"Thankfully no one's seriously hurt. We have a few bumps and bruises, and a few cuts from the glass but that's about it." Megan replied.

Nodding his head, Don headed for the bullpen to check on Charlie.

As he got closer he saw something on the glass wall of the bullpen.

Finally being no more than 6 steps away from the door, Don saw that it was a single bullet hole.

Eyebrows rising in fear, Don looked through the glass and saw his brother still on the ground, apparently unmoving.

Don's walk increased to a run as he pushed open the bullpen door and dropped down on to the ground next to his brother.

Seeing the hole in Charlie's back not to mention all of the crimson blood that stained the floor and Charlie's clothes made Don's worry increase exponentially.

"Charlie!" Don said worriedly as he carefully touched his brother.

When no response was forthcoming, Don fearfully touched his brother's neck, praying to God that he would find a pulse.

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A/N: A cliffhanger! Well what do you all think so far? Is it worth continuing?


	2. Hospital Bound

**Take My Hand**

Chapter Two: Hospital Bound

Fearfully Don put a hand to his brother's neck, searching for a pulse. At first Don couldn't find one, but suddenly he felt it. It was very weak, if not a bit unsteady, but it was there none the less.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Don yelled at the top of his voice, not looking around to see if anyone heard him, as he checked his brother out for any other injuries.

Not finding anything else, Don quickly unbuttoned his white shirt, wadded it up and placed it against the hole in Charlie's back as he applied gentle pressure to the wound.

At that, Charlie moaned in pain before he opened his eyes.

"Don…" Charlie said softly.

"Right here, buddy." Don replied, knowing that Charlie couldn't see him since his baby brother was still resting on top of his knapsack.

"What happened?" Charlie asked.

Don opened his mouth and shut it before he replied, "You were shot."

"Ungh, No wonder my back hurts." Charlie moaned.

"Don't worry; you're going to be fine." Don said, hoping that Charlie would believe him.

'_Fine? Oh grow up Don! Thing's aren't fine, here! Not with your brother dying right in front of you!'_ Don thought to himself.

"Don…did…did you dim the lights?" Charlie asked as his vision began to grow dim.

This caused Don's panic alarm, which was already blaring, to go deafening.

Looking behind him, Don was about to yell for the status of the ambulance when Megan, David and Colby entered.

When they saw Charlie and the blood, and Don applying pressure to Charlie's back, they all stopped, completely stunned.

"Where's that ambulance?" Don asked, sounding flustered.

"It's on it's way Don. ETA 5 minutes." David replied after a second.

"Charlie might not _have_ 5 minutes!" Don roared, feeling completely hopeless as he turned to his brother, who now had tears running down his face.

'_Don't you dare die on me buddy…don't you dare!'_ Don thought.

Glancing back at his team, he saw that they had reached a conclusion, because David and Colby both left the room at a full fledged run, heading for the stairs, while Megan stayed behind and went over to her boss and his brother.

Kneeling down, she removed her jacket before gently raising Charlie's head and setting the jacket under it, before lowering his head back down.

Since Charlie was still on his stomach, Megan made sure that her jacket wasn't obstructing his airway, but still offered him a bit more than the carpeted surface of the bull pen.

Knowing that Don was too worried to even think clearly, Megan kept her cool as she looked down at Charlie with kind eyes.

After getting Charlie's failing attention, Megan had him tell her what he knew about pursuit curves and such, just to keep him awake and talking, which was now the most important thing.

But, just as Charlie got warmed up on the subject, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard.

Glancing out the window of the bullpen, Don saw with relief that David and Colby were leading 2 EMT's through the maze of cubicles.

Pushing open the door of the bullpen, Colby held it open while the EMT's entered and went over to Charlie, Megan and Don.

Gulping a little, Don moved out of the way, followed shortly by Megan, before the paramedics swooped down on Charlie.

Before Don knew what was happening, Charlie's shirt was ripped open as he was hooked up to an EKG, but the EMT's were careful not to lay him directly on his back.

Getting Charlie's BP and heart rate went quickly enough, and soon they were wrapping some material around the wound before they set up an IV of Ringer's Lactate to counter the shock that was so obviously setting in.

Next the EMT's gently and carefully placed Charlie on the stretcher that they had brought with them, before exiting the bullpen, with Don trailing behind.

The ride down the elevator seemed as slow as molasses to Don, with his brother's life hanging in the balance, but the EMT's assured him that Charlie would at least make it to the hospital, but getting a glimpse at Charlie's paling features, Don was having some doubts about that.

When the elevator doors opened, the EMT's rushed the stretcher to their ambulance before loading it up with practiced speed.

Then, before either one of the EMT's could ask, Don leapt in to the back before taking a seat and folding his hands.

"Guess that answers that question." One of the EMT's said to his partner as he climbed in back, while the second EMT shut the door and ran over to the driver's side, jumped in and got the ambulance rolling full speed towards the hospital.

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A/N: I know this is a short chapter, but at least it's a start.


	3. Mysterious Stranger

**Take My Hand**

Chapter 3: Mysterious Stranger

_Ding!_

'_What the heck was that?'_ Charlie wondered as he forced himself to open his eyes.

As his vision cleared, he found himself in an elevator, with his knapsack over one shoulder and his jacket over the other shoulder.

Slowly the elevator stopped moving, before seemingly bouncing a little just before the doors opened on to Don's office level of the Federal Building.

Quite confused, Charlie stepped out of the elevator and headed over to Don's office, but he stopped when he saw Don coming towards him from the break room, a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Don!" Charlie said, waiting for his big brother to stop, but Don didn't stop. He didn't even appear to hear him, which caused Charlie to scrunch up his eyebrows.

Determined to get Don's attention, Charlie stepped right out in Don's path before he called Don's name again, but Don just ignored Charlie, or so the younger Eppes thought…until Don literally walked right through him!

Charlie backed up in shock before he whirled around and gave chase.

"What the heck happened back there?" Charlie asked, even though he had a feeling that if Don didn't answer him the last two times, he certainly wasn't going to answer him this time.

"Hey…Don!"

Hearing his name being called, Don turned to see Professor Dan Payne exiting the bullpen.

"Yes Dan…what is it?" Don asked with a roll of his eyes.

Without telling Don, Dan just beckoned him over to the bullpen, so Don and Charlie followed.

Entering the bullpen, Charlie blanched when he saw what looked like first grader math techniques on the blackboard.

"Don…who is this guy?" Charlie questioned, but Don didn't answer the question as his gaze roved over the chicken scratch on the blackboard as this Dan guy explained his 'findings' to Don.

"Interesting isn't it?"

Whirling around, Charlie saw this guy in a dark robe heading towards him.

Not knowing which question to ask first, Charlie decided to ask them both at the same time.

"Who are you and what are you talking about?" He asked.

The man chuckled before he said, "Why I'm you!"

"What?!" Charlie exclaimed, not seeing any resemblance to himself in the man…save for his eyes. There was something about them that looked familiar.

"As for what I mean…well…this has happened before." The man said, motioning to what was going on in the bullpen.

Charlie just glanced at the guy as if he were a raving lunatic, but the guy just sighed and raised a hand to his head just like Charlie did sometimes.

"You were shot in the back…right? At Don's office?" The guy asked.

Charlie kept his head still as he wondered how this guy knew that.

"And before then you were chewing your brother out for insulting you. I believe it was because Don hired another mathematician and then said the guy was there so there would be someone better than you coming up with all the answers. Am I right?"

Seeing Charlie's face, the man knew that he was.

"Yeah. The exact same thing happened to me a long time ago. Don hired the guy, insulted me in front of everyone and then I was shot by that guy who decided to go on a shooting rampage in the office. Of course Don tried to apologize an' all, but I died anyway, just like all the Charlie's before me…and just like you will." The guy said.

"What you're saying is a lie! It can't be true. It's not logical!" Charlie said, not believing it for an instant.

"Buddy, hasn't it ever crossed your mind that THAT Don can't see you because you are dead!" The man said.

"I can't be dead! I would know it if I were!" Charlie said.

Seeing the man's face, Charlie knew that he had said the wrong thing.

"TRY TO UNDERSTAND THIS!" The man yelled, "What happened here has happened before, to another Charlie just like you, in another timeline! You…We get shot…then we die… and this is the end result. Though, who Don hires is never the same. Sometimes the guy is even smarter than us…sometimes he's a worthless piece of…"

"Alright! You don't have to say it!" Charlie said, not wanting to hear the rest of Dan's title.

Sighing, Charlie said, "So, you're telling me that there are others exactly like me who have gotten shot just as I have…and have died?"

The man nodded his head in agreement.

"How?...how do they die?" Charlie asked.

"Something the doctors missed. The bullet that was embedded in our backs was laced with poison. It was only that one bullet, yet the doctors didn't find out about it until it was to late to do anything." The man said.

"How do I know that what you're saying is true? How do I know that it isn't some part of my imagination?" Charlie asked.

"You want proof?" The man said, glancing at Charlie as everything went white, forcing Charlie to shut his eyes.

When the light died down, Charlie opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital, standing by a bed.

Looking over, Charlie saw a body…_his _body in the bed, with different IV's and tubes sticking out, and right beside him sat Don, head bowed and eyes closed as silent tears ran down his face.

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Charlie went over to Don and tried to embrace him, but his arms passed clean through Don's body!

"As I told you, he can't see, feel or touch you." The man said.

Standing up straight, Charlie turned back to the man.

"You said you'd show me proof! This is just some fantasy!" Charlie said, gesturing to the bed and his brother.

"Just be patient and watch. At 6:30 PM an alarm will sound, alerting the doctors that there is a problem. The doctors will come, run some tests and discover the poison, but there's nothing they can do, because you check out at 7:30 PM on the dot." The man said.

Charlie knew what 'check out' the man was talking about.

Swallowing again, Charlie glanced at the clock and saw that it read 3:20 PM.

He didn't have that much time, and if Don couldn't hear or see him, then there was nothing he could do but wait and hope that this mysterious stranger was wrong about what was to come.


	4. My Only Wish

**Take My Hand**

Chapter Four: My Only Wish

Don sat in the chair staring down at the floor as he bit his bottom lip in dismay. Ever since he had been allowed to see Charlie, he had plopped himself down in the chair and had vowed never to leave his brother's side.

'_God, this is all my fault. I should have stayed with him. If I had…he wouldn't be in that bed!'_ Don thought to himself, while his logical side was telling him that what had happened wasn't his fault; that he was an FBI agent, and he had done his job to the best of his ability.

Hearing the door open, Don looked up to see Megan and Larry entering the room, both with sorrowful expressions on their faces.

Seeing the question in both of their eyes, Don shook his head before lowering his gaze.

"Don…" Megan began, but Don interrupted her with, "I don't want to hear it!"

Rising from his chair, Don pointed to the figure in the bed as he said, "I let him down Agent! Do you understand?! If I had done my job the way I should have, then Charlie wouldn't be here!"

"Maybe. And, maybe a lot more people could have been injured, Don, if you hadn't been there to stop him. And maybe, if you hadn't let Charlie work on that case years ago he wouldn't be here, because he wouldn't have been consulting with us in the first place. Don't blame yourself for the choices that were made, Don. You can't change the past, any more than you can change the fact that your brother was hurt, but what you can do is make sure that it doesn't happen again." Megan said.

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Charlie blinked, looking like a deer caught in the headlights as Megan finished up her speech.

"Wow. I didn't see that one coming." Charlie muttered as he glanced at Larry, who looked much like he did.

Shaking his head, Charlie walked over to Don, who was watching Megan leave, with Larry following right behind her.

Hearing a sigh, Charlie watched Don rub the back of his neck before glancing back at the figure in the bed.

"Ok Don, I know that you can't see or hear me…but could you see this…?" Charlie muttered before he headed over to the small cabinet.

In a corner was a small cardboard box of some type of salt…almost like a powder really.

Letting out a deep breath, Charlie closed his eyes before he reached out a hand towards the box. He was wishing with all of his heart that he could tip the box over; make the stuff spill out on to the cabinet, or better…the floor near Don, before hopefully writing a message to his brother…even if it was no more than a handful of words.

Slowly the box started moving, even though Charlie didn't touch it. The box was acting like Charlie hand was pushing it, much like a magnet slides across a table when another magnet gets close to it.

'_Come on…come on!'_ Charlie thought before he heard the thump of the box hitting the floor and the stuff spilling out on to the floor.

Opening his eyes, Charlie glanced over at Don who had jumped up from his seat, his hand automatically going for his gun…even though he wasn't wearing it anymore.

Heaving a sigh, Charlie knelt down on the floor and concentrated on the salt on the floor as Don slowly came over, looking questioningly at the white stuff that was all over the floor.

Shaking his head and scolding himself at his jumpiness, Don turned to go back to his chair when a crease appeared in the salts…as if by magic.

Slowly kneeling down, Don scrunched up his eyebrows as the word 'Charlie' was slowly spelled out right in front of him.

Paling, Don rocked back on his heels a bit as the word stared up at him for several seconds before disappearing, only to be replaced with the words, 'Need help.'

Swallowing, Don said, "Ok." Not really sure who was trying to contact him.

Deciding to take a chance, Don quietly asked, "Charlie? Is that you buddy?"

His eyes being fixed on the salt, Don held his breath as a 'Yes' was slowly spelled out.

Finally seeing that confirmation was enough that Don collapsed firmly on to the floor.

"But…how…?" Don muttered, not being able to form a complete sentence.

Charlie, for his part, knew what Don meant, but he wrote, 'No Time Explain. Need Help.'

Nodding his head, Don watched as the words disappeared before the words 'Poison Bullet.' appeared.

"Poison bullet?" Don muttered, trying to make since of what Charlie was trying to tell him.

Seeing that Don was drawing a blank, Charlie rolled his eyes before writing 'Bullet In My Back…Poison.'

Now this time Don fully understood.

Eyes widening, Don quickly rose up and watched as the words faded.

Looking around at the empty room, Don nodded his head before he said, "Don't worry buddy. Nothing is going to happen to you."

Then he turned and left the room.

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"What the hell did you do that for?"

Turning, Charlie saw the older version of himself standing right behind him, arms folded.

"You may have let yourself die without trying to stop it, but I have no plans on dying just yet. I was able to tell my brother…he'll get the doctors to check and then they'll be able to stop it." Charlie said.

"You really think so? You really think that its going to be that easy? Just wait on them to find the cure and then once its administered, you just wake up and continue on living? Is that it?" The old Charlie asked.

Seeing Charlie's eyes, the old Charlie got his answer.

Shaking his head, the old Charlie said, "I tried to be nice. Tried to tell you not to mess with this and let the things that were going to happen, happen, but no…you had to go and mess with everything!"

Swallowing, Charlie sighed before he said, "If you were once really me, then you would know that I don't give up on anything."

Snorting, the old Charlie said, "We'll see." Before he faded, leaving Charlie in the hospital room.

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A/N: Sorry for the late update, but I couldn't get on the computer until tonight, because my brother was using it night and day…but now he's gone! Also, I know its getting a bit OOC if not AU, but don't worry, it'll clear up. Just give it some time.


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